This invention relates to a device for immobilizing and suspending an arm during arthroscopy.
Arthroscopy is a recently developed and widely used diagnostic and surgical procedure which allows a physician to see inside of joints such as the knee, shoulder and ankle. The procedure involves the use of an arthroscope, a long thin, illuminated viewing scope with optical fibers on its tip, which is inserted through a very small incision into the joint. With the arthroscope a physician can quickly and easily assess joint damage by direct viewing, plan an appropriate repair operation and trim away damaged tissue using tiny instruments inserted through the arthroscope. The development of arthroscopy has reduced the cost of rehabiliative surgery and further has vastly reduced the time it takes to recuperate from such surgery.
When shoulder arthroscopy is performed it is necessary to immobilize and suspend the patient's arm. This is done by positioning the patient on his side with the shoulder to be examined uppermost. The arm should be at an angle of between 30.degree. to 45.degree. from the horizontal (abduction angle) and the shoulder itself should be bent to achieve about 15.degree. flexion. This positioning maximizes the physician's access to the shoulder so that the joint can be most effectively viewed and repaired. Further, this positioning avoids over stretching of the brachial plexus during arthroscopy.
In order to obtain the necessary abduction and flexion angles for shoulder arthroscopy, it is necessary to secure the patient's hand and/or wrist at a position above and away from his body. This has heretofore been accomplished by securing the hand or wrist to a pole or other stable means using tape, rope, hard plastic devices, etc. Although these aforementioned devices secure the hand and places the arm and shoulder in proper position for the arthroscopy they are time consuming to set-up, not easy to keep sterile, and cause unnecessary discomfort and pressure on the patient's hand and arm. Further, visualization of the patient's hand and forearm is hampered due to the tape or rope, etc., thus making it difficult to monitor peripheral circulatory and other problems. As such, the aforementioned effects of taping and tying etc. are undesirable in any invasive medical procedure and are even less desirable in arthroscopy which is intended as a fairly quick, uncomplicated procedure which attempts to minimize soft tissue injuries and other complications.
Accordingly, it is a purpose of this invention to provide a device which can be used to hold a person's hand above and away from his body so as to properly position the person's arm and shoulder for arthroscopy.
Another object of this invention is to provide such a device which is relatively comfortable for the patient, easy to use, easy to keep sterile, which does not hamper visualization of the arm and hand, and which does not unduly press against or bind the patient's limb.